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Shooting arrows and slinging mud : Custer, the press, and the Little Bighorn

The defeat of George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was big news in 1876. Newspaper coverage of the battle initiated hot debates about whether the United States government should change its policy toward American Indians and who was to blame for the army's loss -- the latter an argument that ignites passion to this day. Here, journalism professor James E. Mueller explores press coverage of the famous battle. As he analyzes a wide range of accounts -- some grim, some circumspect, some even laced with humor -- Mueller offers a unique take on the dramatic events that so shook the American public.Read more...

"So fit a death": Custer's Last Stand --
"Horrible!": the news shocks the nation --
"The blood of these brave men": assessing the blame for defeat --
"A little cheap political capital": the Little Bighorn and the presidential campaign --
"That old rebel spirit": the Hamburg Massacre bumps Custer off the front page --
"Asses who are braying for extermination": the Indians in Little Bighorn coverage --
"Custer's death was Sioux-icide": humor and the Little Bighorn --
"Duty and valor": the focus of Little Bighorn coverage.

Responsibility:

James E. Mueller.

Abstract:

The defeat of George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was big news in 1876. Newspaper coverage of the battle initiated hot debates about whether the United States government should change its policy toward American Indians and who was to blame for the army's loss -- the latter an argument that ignites passion to this day. Here, journalism professor James E. Mueller explores press coverage of the famous battle. As he analyzes a wide range of accounts -- some grim, some circumspect, some even laced with humor -- Mueller offers a unique take on the dramatic events that so shook the American public.